FanPost

Let's discuss ideas for a Diamondbacks trade

Seriously, let's get creative. This is fun!

Initial caveat: I don't believe a trade will be possible any earlier than late spring training. Both teams need to see what they have: AZ at catcher and TOR at centre field, second base and the bullpen. Anthopolous also wants to wait to see if there are any catcher injuries across the league.

To my mind, the two teams line up very well. Arizona has a surplus in every area we could use some help: right-handed relief pitchers, middle infielders, outfielders and international bonus pool slot money (which is to say, extra space on what you can spend before incurring 50% tax). Like the Braves, they are pseudo-rebuilding and they aren't giving up on the now so they likely would be interested in what we have: prospects and a stop-gap catcher. I find it hard to believe that, once the season gets going, they wont want to upgrade their catching situation for the year (price depending).

There are a few righty relievers to look at, and I'm not terribly familiar with any of them. Addison Reed (who I believe is their resident closer) had a drop-off in his numbers last year. They might look to move him but he's not my ideal target. Brad Ziegler is 35 and his numbers last year were a little less awesome than normal; he has one year left at 5M with a 5.5M team option (1M buyout). Evan Marshall is pre-arb with 5 years of control. David Hernandez has one year of control at 2M; he had a rough season last year but two strong years before that. I believe Matt Stites is considered a major-league ready prospect. Oliver Perez is a lefty, but he's damn good with 1 year left at 2.5M

The obvious choice in middle infielders we would look for is Cliff Pennington. He is strong defensively, could shift over to shortstop and hits enough to warrant his defence. He has one year of control left at 3.275M, although I like him as an extension candidate for 2-3 years because I have this crazy idea that the United States will open economic relations with Cuba (because they need to keep up with what China is doing in South America) so we might be able to sign Jose Fernandez as early as mid-season, in which case we could trade Reyes and most of his contract to San Diego for Ian Kennedy, with Pennington moving to SS. I like Fernandez, I don't particularly like Reyes's injury risk at that price and Travis may not move ahead as fast as some think. Time will tell.

As far as AZ's outfielders go, I'm looking at Ender Inciarte and David Peralta. I don't believe they'll look at move AJ Pollock and Cody Ross seems like a poor target (they both hit right handed anyway). Peralta would be a great platoon partner for Pillar, while Inciarte has much more even splits with less power. Then again, Peralta had a .343 BABIP against RHP last year. Both bat left handed, can play centre and are pre-arb with 5 years left.

Arizona has a lot of international bonus pool slot allocation that they can't use next year. I'm told that it doesn't have much trade value, but it does have value for us.

Ok so the big question is whether they're going to have interest in Dioner Navarro. Obviously it depends on how their current options work out. If they're on the Goinsian or Maicer-2013 level, I have to think they'll have some interest.

What they really want is prospects. For the right return, I would include a pitching prospect but I'm not familiar enough with them to say which. Obviously Castro, Osuna and Hoffman are off the table in this type of deal. Maybe Smoral or Boyd? Mitch Nay is currently blocked on the Jays, and he's still multiple years away. I'm not familiar with the Dback's farm so I can't say how much interest they would have.

Timing is everything. AA wants to wait for catcher injuries but if Pompey, Izturis and Smoak completely suck, or if there's an injury, then he has no leverage. Then again maybe Martin gets injured and we keep Navarro. There was some chatter in the media about Dave Stewart not wanting to make his team worse. Both teams need to see what they have. Hypothetically, their catchers could be so bad that giving up Pennington's "good enough" bat in exchange for five years of Goins, for example, could warrant acquiring Dioner. They don't have room for all their outfielders, not to mention that they want to move Tomas to a corner outfield spot. There could be a trade to be had where they collect prospects and still don't get worse on paper while upgrading at catcher.

Assuming they have interest in Navarro, how about something like:

Navarro+Goins+Smoral+Nay for Perez+Inciarte+Pennington+as much bonus pool slot allocation as we can use

Please feel free to post any other ideas, critique, rearrange or limit the proposal in the comments. Smoral have too much upside? How much risk does Ziegler have? My example is one of those "how do we fix all the problems?" ideas that are so common these days. Imagining is how good things get started.

Editor's Note: This is a FanPost written by a reader and member of Bluebird Banter. It was not commissioned by the editors and is not necessarily reflective of the opinions of Bluebird Banter or SB Nation.